I manage affiliates’ accounts, from one-man show publishers to ad networks and affiliate networks worldwide. I’ve found that working closely with my publishers expands their portfolio in terms of opening new markets & categories, and their overall activity increases, leading to a great increase in revenue, of course!
How can you get the most out of your account manager? The information is out there, you just have to ask for it!
A good account manager can help you by giving you the following information:
- List of top performing campaigns in the network
- The most updated EPC & Conversion rates
- Targeted demographics
- Text ads
- Reports
- New and improved landing pages and creative
Traffic is not enough
Having the right media or buying the right traffic is sometimes not enough for an offer to work. We see it all the time. Creative plays a huge role in the success of the campaign, meaning the banner or text ad must appealing enough to attract the attention of the user and have a clear call to action to make him click on it. A good banner will increase the CTR (click-through-rate) and eventually the probability for a conversion.
Same goes for creating landing pages. Publishers are running many offers with different flows and are able to know which LP will convert and which one is a waste of traffic.
So what can you do when you see a low CTR or CR and suspect the standard banners and landing pages are not good enough? Create your own!
Okay, easier said than done. Sometimes publishers are not able to create banners on their own, and some might even say, “that’s not my problem, that’s the advertiser’s job” but as marketers, affiliates often have the best ideas for ads, and will know what works on their traffic sources. So here’s a secret we want you to know: your network can create the banners for you! (Matomy is known for this, but not every network does it so ask your AM.)
What will the advertiser say when you don’t want to use their ads? The good news is that advertisers are usually open for changes that yield sales, and as long as they approve the artwork, it is a great opportunity for a publisher to distinguish himself by running an LP that no one else has in the industry.
Here are some examples for in-house creative made here in Matomy for our affiliates:
Ace Online
Groupon
EURO 2012
EURO 2012
More of a DIYer? Here are tips or pointers for a publisher who would like to create his own banner/landing page:
Well, different verticals require different creative. For example, with Mobile, Free Stuff & Download offers you are freer to be creative in terms of making an ad that will attract the user and get him to download the product or enter his mobile number.
With other verticals such as: Games, Daily Deals, Dating etc. the creative must be targeted to the offer. So I would follow these lines:
- Make sure the content matches the ad
- Use the type of language that suits your targeted audience
- Keep track of trends and graphic design
- Create an interactive ad that would involve the user, encourage him to click
- Make it FUN! Using gamification elements will keeps users’ attention
- Have a clear call-to-action
- Simplify the flow for the user (The shorter the flow, the better the conversion rate).
Rotem Dassa is an Affiliate Account Manager at Matomy Market.
